Open Threads

I have two open questions for the readers:

1.) I just heard Frank Rich refer to Iraq as an artifical state with deep internal divisions. I had always been under the impression that although the geographic boundaries from the mandate were artificial, Iraq was a very contented, cosmopolitan, and very ethnically inter-married nation until Saddam Hussein used people’s differences for his own political gain. Am I way out in left field here?

2.) I have become addicted to a fruit salad that comes in a can (it is the tropical one, with red and white papaya, passion fruit, and pineapple). I would eat the fruits fresh, but mangos are a pain in the arse to eat, and a whole papaya is a lot of fruit. Nutritionally, how much do I lose by eating the stuff out of a can/jar as opposed to eating them fresh?

Just throw your responses in the comments. Thanks in advance.

Open QuestionsPost + Comments (5)

Sen. Robert Byrd, in the well (not the sewer well, which would have been fitting for the former Klansmen) of the Senate, on 6 May:

“To me, it is an affront to the Americans killed or injured in Iraq for the President to exploit the trappings of war for the momentary spectacle of a speech.”

and

“I believe that our military forces deserve to be treated with respect and dignity, and not used as stage props to embellish a presidential speech.”

Have the Democrats become the Grouch Marx Party? Who are we to believe? The left-wing, or our lying eyes?

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The faces of sheer exploitation. It makes me want to cry, they look so abused. How dare Bush?

The Groucho Marx PartyPost + Comments (3)

Sen. Shelby is right to be skeptical, and these companies have a long way to go before people should feel confident in them, as I have stated before. Name changes and some small fines are not enough (remember, Citigroup Global Markets is just a new name on the corrupt Saloman Smith Barney). In Shelby’s words:

“I believe that the Wall Street culture must change from the top down, and I am not convinced that the (settlement) has done enough to change attitudes at the top” of the big investment firms, Sen. Richard Shelby, R-Ala., the committee’s chairman, said at a hearing called to examine the accord. “Without holding executives and CEOs personally accountable for the wrongdoing that occurred under their watch, I do not believe that Wall Street will change its ways or that investor confidence will be restored.”

There is a one word solution for this problem- handcuffs. When corrupt executives ruin peoples lives and finances, they deserve to be locked up like rats.

I’m Skeptical About This TooPost + Comments

Before the usual suspects get all atwitter about fascism in the United States, this is NOT censorship:

Country station KKCS has suspended two disc jockeys for playing the Dixie Chicks, violating a ban imposed after the group criticized President Bush.

Their boss told them not to do something, they did it anyway, they were suspended. The end.

This Is Not CensorshipPost + Comments (26)

If you are going to try to be bitter, biting, and funny in an op-ed, while taunting your opponent, this is how you do it. Go read Dennis Miller take on Norman Mailer.

With six marriages under his belt, one would assume Mr. Mailer has a stranglehold on warfare. One would be wrong.

and this gem:

Ironically, Mr. Mailer seems to see everything in the world in terms of black and white, except of course, good and evil.

or this:

And as Mr. Mailer’s prostate gradually supplants his ego as the largest gland in his body, he’s going to have to realize, as is the case with all young lions who inevitably morph into Bert Lahr, that his alleged profundities are now being perceived as the early predictors of dementia.

Good clean fun.

Dennis MillerPost + Comments (2)